In the sport of light tackle fishing for fresh water and salt water fish, it is important that the fisherman be able to remove his hook from the mouth of the fish without harm to the fish or himself, particularly where he does not intend to keep the fish. It has been found that by placing the thumb of one hand in the mouth of the fish and the index finger of that hand against the outside of the lower jaw of the fish, and then pressing the lower jaw of the fish away from the upper jaw with the thumb, the fish becomes temporarily paralyzed or at least makes little or no attempt to struggle, thereby permitting the fish to be securely held while the hook is removed from its mouth. While this approach is generally satisfactory, it does have some disadvantages.
First, the fish may lunge when the fisherman's hand first touches it and thereby cause the hook to be rammed into the hand of the fisherman. Second, placing the thumb in the mouth of the fish is acceptable in the case of fish with no significant teeth, such as the black (large mouth) bass, Kentucky (small mouth) bass, sand bass, and stripers, but is not suitable for use with fish having pronounced teeth, including the pike, walleye, muskie, salt water speckled trout and many other sport fish. Third, manually grasping the fish may cause damage to the scales and/or may remove a portion of the protective coating on the fish, which in the case of some species may result in the growth of a fungus on the fish which can ultimately kill the fish. Finally, some fishermen prefer not to directly touch the fish at all, much less place a thumb inside the mouth of the fish. Further, winter fishermen like to avoid removing their gloves because of the cold weather.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a device which can be used to releasably and securely grip a fish in a manner minimizing movement of the fish while a hook is removed from the mouth of the fish, and which can be used equally well with fish having teeth and fish lacking teeth.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a device which can securely and releasably grip a fish in a manner which ensures that little or no harm will be experienced by the fish or the fisherman, and in particular which ensures that there will be little or no damage to the scales of the fish and that there will be little or no removal of the protective coating on the fish.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a device which avoids the need for the fisherman to ever directly touch the fish and, in particular, which can be moved into gripping contact with the fish when the fish is dangling from the hook and line under rod tension with most of its body still in the water.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a fish gripping device of the aforesaid type which is compact, lightweight, structurally simple, easy and inexpensive to manufacture and assemble, and requires little or no maintenance.